Quote:
“Futile - the winds - / To a Heart in port - / Done with the Compass - / Done with the Chart!” (Dickinson 82).
Summary:
This is the second stanza in poem 269 of Emily Dickinson. I believe she is saying that nothing can interfere or pull her apart from the path she has decided to follow now that she has found it.
Response:
The first time I read this poem, I thought it was more like a passionate description of a sexual encounter between her and her lover. However, after reviewing the different interpretations I now believe this poem is about Dickinson the artist. I consider this poem to be a very passionate description of her and her art, because I feel she found herself within her poems. Finally this poem is sort of a revelation for her, like saying “I have discovered who I am as an artist and there is nothing that can make me change”.
This stanza is the end of the longing she announces in the first stanza. She longs for the “wild nights”, but in this stanza, she convincingly realizes that she has to look no more. She is no longer a slave of society’s critics and defined gender roles. Now, she can refuge in her art and her poetry to be herself. I believe she was struggling with herself because she was maybe sick of how society defined women roles, and how she was expected to depend on men and leave aside her own interests.
Therefore, she uses the word “futile”, to declare that anything “the winds” do to separate her from port will be useless now that she knows what she wants. Plus, since this longing is over, now that she has discovered her true self, she feels she is in the heaven, which means she now has found sort of a peaceful refuge where she can stay, which is her poetry.
“Futile - the winds - / To a Heart in port - / Done with the Compass - / Done with the Chart!” (Dickinson 82).
Summary:
This is the second stanza in poem 269 of Emily Dickinson. I believe she is saying that nothing can interfere or pull her apart from the path she has decided to follow now that she has found it.
Response:
The first time I read this poem, I thought it was more like a passionate description of a sexual encounter between her and her lover. However, after reviewing the different interpretations I now believe this poem is about Dickinson the artist. I consider this poem to be a very passionate description of her and her art, because I feel she found herself within her poems. Finally this poem is sort of a revelation for her, like saying “I have discovered who I am as an artist and there is nothing that can make me change”.
This stanza is the end of the longing she announces in the first stanza. She longs for the “wild nights”, but in this stanza, she convincingly realizes that she has to look no more. She is no longer a slave of society’s critics and defined gender roles. Now, she can refuge in her art and her poetry to be herself. I believe she was struggling with herself because she was maybe sick of how society defined women roles, and how she was expected to depend on men and leave aside her own interests.
Therefore, she uses the word “futile”, to declare that anything “the winds” do to separate her from port will be useless now that she knows what she wants. Plus, since this longing is over, now that she has discovered her true self, she feels she is in the heaven, which means she now has found sort of a peaceful refuge where she can stay, which is her poetry.
1 comment:
20/20 I'll vote for Dickinson the Artist too.
Please don't forget to number your journals in future.
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